Beat together 1 stick butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in egg until combined. Add flour and 1/8 teaspoon salt and mix at low speed until just combined. Add dates and mix until just combined well.

Pour batter into pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt remaining stick butter in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in remaining cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup water, and a pinch of salt. Boil over moderately high heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and sauce is reduced to about 1 1/4 cups, 2 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and cover.

Transfer pudding in pan to a rack and poke all over at 1-inch intervals with a chopstick. Gradually pour half of warm sauce evenly over hot pudding. Let stand until almost all of sauce is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Run a thin knife around edge of pan. Invert a plate over pudding and invert pudding onto plate. Pour remaining warm sauce over pudding and serve immediately.

Cooks' note:

Pudding, soaked with half of sauce, can stand at room temperature up to 2 hours. Reheat in pan in a 300°F oven 10 minutes. Warm remaining sauce before pouring over pudding.

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Recent Reviews

Love this recipe. Receive requests to make this all the time. To make recipe easier, I do not chop the dates. After the whole dates have simmered, I use stick blender to lightly chop the dates before adding to batter. Served with vanilla ice cream, a hit all the time.

byacookinnj from Colonia, NJ /

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I love sticky toffee pudding, but was always daunted by the though ot making it at home. This recipe turned out so simple and delicious that I wouldn't hesitate again! I accidentally used salted butter, but the flavor really tempered the sweetness of the other elements. Next time, I'll use salted butter again and take the advice of some other reviewers and boil the dates in diluted coffee for enhanced flavor and color. (The original recipe is a bit paler than I expected.)

jhsiao from Los Angeles /

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I was skeptical when I saw that this Sticky
Toffee Pudding recipe had only 1 egg, while
most others on epicurious had 4. But since
I had only 1 egg left in my fridge, this
recipe would have to do! I was amazed with
the results - the cake portion was light,
well flavored and well balanced, and the
caramel sauce (which I halved) made the
result decadent. When you simmer the
chopped dates, they essentially melt into
the cake batter, so you don't bite into any
chunks of dates after its baked. I baked this in a deep-dish pie-plate and poured the sauce over. This was so easy, and the results so outstanding that I would make it again for guests!

sashamol from Tucson, AZ /

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I made this for a family gathering and it went over in a big way. Even people who normally turn down dessert were asking for some. They would have a bite of somebody's (after the somebody insisted) and then came over and asked for a piece. Really delicious. We served it with a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side and covered in the caramel sauce.

kathycookstoo /

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Had to make this with gluten free flour as we had a gluten intolerant friend in our group. What a Huge success. I do not like dates but they only enhanced the texture. At the end of the meal as I went to scrape the crumbs left from the serving plate a cry went up from those in the kitchen as they dove to get those last few crumbs!